Queen Elizabeth II urged King Charles III to “just tell [Prince Harry] what he needs to hear” when the duke pursued “accountability” from the royal family, according to a bombshell new book by Omid Scobie.
Endgame, published on November 28 by Dey Street, is the royal author’s second biography. His first, Finding Freedom, sent shockwaves through royal reporting.
Scobie suggests the queen wanted her eldest son to say whatever was necessary to appease Prince Harry as the Duke of Sussex sought “apologies” for the way the royal family treated him and Meghan.
The views of the queen—famous for keeping her opinions closely guarded—have long been a battleground between Harry and Meghan and the wider royal family, with claims Harry blindsided his grandmother stacked against the prince’s account of their special relationship.
A mutual family friend told Scobie: “So much of [the conflict] could have been prevented. For so long Harry had made it clear that he and Meghan simply wanted to be heard, that they wanted the opportunity to sit down and talk through the past, from both perspectives, and find a way to move forward.
“For Harry, it was about seeking accountability and, where appropriate, apologies.”
“Stubborn as ever,” Endgame reads, “it was the one thing Charles refused to give them—even if it meant risking damage to the Crown.
“A former Clarence House staff member said Charles was encouraged by senior aides and, on at least one occasion, the Queen herself to swallow his pride, ‘Just tell him what he needs to hear .. . That’s what was said,’ admitted the former employee.
“Instead, Charles chose to say nothing and turn the other way as the Sussexes shared their story via Netflix in December 2022 and Harry’s memoir a month later.”
Scobie wrote that Spare revealed “the full unvarnished story of the family’s fractures” and described “decades of simmering resentment between his brother and the true depths of their falling-out.”
Prince Harry and Meghan officially announced their royal exit on their Sussex Royal website before having their plans formally approved by the palace, prompting allegations they had “blindsided” the queen.
The allegation was made not only in the British media but also on CNN, which reported Elizabeth was “upset” at the time.
Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan have always sought to present themselves as close with the queen, telling Oprah Winfrey that neither Elizabeth nor Prince Philip were behind comments about their unborn child’s skin tone.
Harry also told Hoda Kotb on Today how he and Meghan stopped in for tea with her while on their way to the 2022 Invictus Games in The Hague, Netherlands.
Among his cryptic remarks, Harry said: “It was just so nice to see her. She’s on great form. She’s always got a great sense of humor with me and I’m just making sure that she’s, you know, protected and got the right people around her.”
It was not clear what Harry felt she needed protecting from, though he is well known to have disliked her most senior aide at the time as well as other senior staff from multiple households.
Harry added: “We have a really special relationship. We talk about things that she can’t talk about with anybody else. So that’s always a nice piece to it.”
Meanwhile, British newspapers reported that Harry was invited to go to Balmoral to visit the queen over the summer of 2022 and declined, missing an opportunity to spend time with her during what proved to be the monarch’s final weeks.
Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.
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